HOTmilk to Lower Risk of Sexual Abuse in Zimbabwe

HOTmilk, one of our favorite maternity lingerie lines, is sending special shipments to the women of Zimbabwe. HOTmilk is sending underwear to help lower the risk of sexual abuse of the young women in the villages. My first thought, of course, was “How on Earth would that help?” Morag Roy, a former Zimbabwean teaming up with HOTmilk for the project, discovered during a trip back to Zimbabwe that the sexual abuse of young girls was rampant. When he asked a priest what would help keep the girls from becoming victims, the priest told him that “underwear gives a woman prestige, shows that they have money, and means men are less likely to assault them.“ Roy returned to Zimbabwe six months later, with a suitcase full of bras, and saw first hand how much it helped.

During the trip, Roy also discovered that most girls and their mothers often only own one pair of tattered panties, and so they often just won’t wear any. “They also desperately need knickers, but I guess a Catholic priest wouldn’t have thought about mentioning that!” said Roy.

When HOTmilk learned this, they set out to help. HOTmilk co-owner and co-designer Angie Crosbie said,

“Sometimes we can take a lot for granted, from the roofs over heads right down to the fact we own underwear. When we heard that something as simple as undergarments had the possibility of giving young women in Zimbabwe a better chance to live a life free of sexual abuse, we knew that we wanted to help. Morag had done such a great job in gathering thousands of bras for her cause and we were delighted to donate 6,500 brand new pairs of underwear for her project.“

HOTmilk’s freight forwarder, Express Logistics, also helped the cause by sponsoring the transport of the underwear from New Zealand to Zimbabwe. HOTmilk has sent the underwear is currently awaiting and update from Roy.